Metabolic testing is a simple, 10 minute breath test that is the only way metabolic rate can be tested. It is an FDA approved procedure known as capnography, or the measurement of exhaled carbon dioxide. In the past metabolic testing was only available at universities and large hospitals. Healthy Perspectives LLC offers the latest in metabolic testing technology using the Korr ReeVue Metabolic Analyzer at a fraction of the cost.

Here’s How It Works:

During the test, you will sit in a comfortable chair and breathe through a tube. The air you breathe out is analyzed (using a breathing mask) to determine exactly how much oxygen your body consumes. This is how your metabolic rate is measured. Once completed, your metabolic rate will be used to calculate your unique target caloric zones for weight loss, weight maintenance, and weight gain. With these zones, Becky can teach you what it means to “eat to your metabolism”. Learning to eat to your metabolism will free you to leave constant yo-yo dieting behind and let you start living a healthy and satisfying lifestyle today.

How Is It Useful?:

Many people are surprised to find that their metabolisms are higher than what has been estimated online or at the gym by their trainer. Many people are actually under eating (which can slow weight loss down and cause fatigue) When metabolic rates are found to be low it is usually due to a handful of reasons- low thyroid function, skipping meals, or over exercising just to name a few. All factors that will be address during your consultation.

Learning to eat to your metabolism will free you to leave constant yo-yo dieting behind.

How Is It Useful?:

Many people are surprised to find that their metabolisms are higher than what has been estimated online or at the gym by their trainer. Many people are actually under eating (which can slow weight loss down and cause fatigue) When metabolic rates are found to be low it is usually due to a handful of reasons- low thyroid function, skipping meals, or over exercising just to name a few. All factors that will be address during your consultation.

5 Alternatives to the stupid detox craze:

"Every woman should know how important vaginal douching is to feminine cleanliness, health, charm and happiness." I want to puke.

Or how about this douche add for Zonite:

"You can be sure Zonite does kill every reachable germ and keeps them from multiplying!" Ok, now I'm puking.

In the past, douching was the coochie-couture thing to do. Somehow women (and men) were convinced that the female body was incapable of cleaning and regulating itself. (Interesting side note; Lysol was a favorite coochie cleaner.) As you can guess, that didn't go so well. These extra "cleaning" products put a damper on the feminine factory, and the douches were ditched.

You know what’s better than any of that?

ACTUALLY TAKING A CRAP!

— Becky Crowther

Here is some mind-blowing news; our bodies are born with a built-in detox system and, for most of us, this system works fantastically! If you have a liver, skin, kidneys, lymphatic system, colon, and a brain, you are good to go. If you've consumed a dangerous dose of _________ (really, you could insert about any substance here i.e drugs, alcohol, vitamin A) - to the extent that the organs are overwhelmed - you don't fix it by drinking a green shake. When overdoses and toxicities actually occur, medical intervention, in the forms of stomach pumping, dialysis, and/or blood transfusions, would be the proper treatment - not lemon water with a dash of cayenne pepper. It is rare for our bodies to accumulate harmful toxins or chemicals in our natural environment because they are filtered out by the liver and kidneys. If someone is experiencing pesticide poisoning or heavy-metals metal poisoning, they aren't going to be dealing with a little bit of fatigue, bloating, and pimples. This person would be in the intensive care unit at a hospital hanging on for dear life.

Haven't we learned from the infamous douche? Here we are, once again, trying to fix something that isn't broken. We've decided it would be a good idea to dismiss the brilliant filtering system of the body and "detox" it ourselves. The premise that your body is incapable of homeostasis, and that you need detox pads on the bottom of your feet and a gallon of apple cider vinegar every day is total crap! You know what's better than any of that? ACTUALLY TAKING A CRAP!

Would you like to do something that's actually effective?Start with these 5 earth-shattering, astonishing "fixes" for all those blasted "toxins":

1. Drink water.

2. Get good sleep.

3. Get your antioxidants by eating a balanced diet with lots of fruits and vegetables.

4. Move your body and break a sweat; let the body clean out those pores.

5. Get your fiber, and don't underestimate the power of a good bowel movement.

Becky's take home lesson for the day:

GET OUT OF YOUR OWN WAY. Let the body do it's job. Treat it well. Don't let the media, weight loss industry, or your best friends neighbor convince you that you're broken.

Are you ready to feel frustrated and work harder than necessary to lose weight and feel great? Then these steps are for you! Individual results may vary.

Without further ado, here are the first 5 steps:

1. Tally up your exercise calories to determine how much you can eat for the day. (Oh, and make sure you include the extra 15 calories you used up chewing gum.)

I’m cringing just writing this. Stop. You have a magnificent, built-in messaging system that can do all this "tallying" of energy/calorie needs for you. Just listen to your body's hunger and satiety cues. Take a look at my Hunger Scale Tool. You don’t need presumptuous calculations made outside of your body - unless you are in a coma. If you've been ignoring your body's cues, and ignoring its built-in system, you may have a hard time recognizing them. Don't worry - with a little practice you can get the hang of it.

Don’t eat to fullness, eat to satisfaction.

— Becky Crowther, RDN

2.Exercise off the "extra" calories you just ate.

In fact, you might as well start doing lunges while you’re eating that bagel, because it’s going to take you hours to work that off! Seriously though! If you find yourself summing up food in terms of miles and mountain climbers, you are headed for trouble and misery. I would be bold enough to say you may be on the road to an eating disorder. Once again, avoid overeating by listening to your hunger and satiety cues. Don’t eat to fullness, eat to satisfaction.

3. Make sure you feel like a sack of shit and have a really bad day after you eat ____________ (fill in the blank).

Do you feel bad for eating that donut this morning?I’m not going to say a whole lot about this, but I am going to get all "tough love" on you for a second.

Seriously people?! Bananas are not making you fat. Bananas are your friend. This fruit is a great on-the-go snack with a super combination of carbohydrate, protein, fat, fiber, and antioxidants. And it's all wrapped in an environmentally friendly package!

Stop the hate and blame you’re placing on your body. Your body is BRILLIANT! The reality is that your fatty ass is saving your ass. Literally. When your body receives excess (overeating) energy, it says “Well hello there extra energy! I wasn’t expecting you. But while you’re here you might as well make yourself at home. Come hang out in one of my storage facilities until we can put you to later use.” So polite. Emily Post would be proud. And so should you. If your body couldn’t do this, you would die when you overeat. Literally. Dead.

If certain foods are labeled as "clean," does that make everything else dirty?

There is an elusive food bible somewhere out there with an ever-growing list of "dirty" foods, and an ever-shrinking list of acceptable foods. There are many contradictory versions, mind you, so hopefully you pick the right food religion.

I recently had a 28-year-old woman in my office weeping about how afraid she is to eat. This growing fear around eating is creating an emotional food purgatory that creates food restrictions to the point of malnutrition. There is no salvation at the end of this religion, I promise you. This disorder (yes, it's now a bonafide disorder) is being diagnosed as Orthorexia.

Orthorexia, as defined by The National Eating Disorder Association (NADA), literally means "fixation on righteous eating." It is an obsession with eating foods that one considers safe and healthy, and a great fear of foods that are "bad" - such as bread. The bread apocalypse is coming, by the way. Leave it to civilization to take things to the extreme. (That's never happened before.)

“Reading some of the “clean” living writing out there, including bestselling books by authors with cult-like followings, you can find dubious claims about “detoxing” – which is not a real thing unless maybe you don’t have a liver. Enthusiastic endorsements of extreme juice cleanses and fasting – sometimes with a side of colonics. Blanket and inaccurate statements about grains, dairy, animal products, even seemingly innocuous foods like spinach or fruit. But what’s always the tipoff for me that something is a little off is when writing about food and health veers into near obsessive mathematical precision – detailed tips on exactly how much to eat, when to eat, what to combine it with.”

— https://www.facebook.com/OnlineDietitian/posts/517748631698221

Here's what I have to say:

Trust your body. Focus on balance, and not on perfection. Extremism never pays off. Enjoy food in great variety. Take time to taste the food you are eating. Be grateful for it. Listen to your body. Don't over-eat. Don't under-eat. Get outside. And most importantly, remember that eating chocolate cake won't make you dirty. Unless you are a two year old.

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Talk about overwhelming. What is one to say on her first blog?! What life changing words can I impart to the two or three of you reading this? Well.... here goes!

I'm going to keep it short and simple:

It's not about the food.

Very few of you really have food issues when it comes to eating. When I said this to a new client she replied, "What?!! Food and I have a very tumultuous relationship!. My therapist says I have disordered eating and am addicted to food."

Here's my reply:

You don't have an eating disorder. You have a body image disorder. It's the relationship you have with your body that is disordered. Food is neutral. You've created a monster out of food in an effort to fix the relationship you have with your body. Here's what you have in store for you:

Food is neutral.

— Becky

You are going to just keep going in circles, monitoring, counting, scrutinizing, restricting, controlling, bingeing and hating on food until you decide to really deal with the issue.